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There is a hex on our show. We blow tires. All the time, everywhere we go, we blow tires. We rely heavily on rental SUVS while on location, and though we’re generally pleased with the service and the vehicles, the tire situation needs to change.
Our Montana shoot was a tire fiasco. Mo discovered our first flat on our way out of Miles City, and though it seemed to be a slow leak we got that sucker patched asap and got a late start toward the Powder. It held for about an hour.
We drove south from Miles City, most of it on crushed rock and gravel roads, and literally 300 yards from the trailhead and our hunt—no joke—both vehicles blew a tire. The rental SUV went down slow, but my brother Jake’s Yukon (hired as a WPA for the shoot) rear passenger tire literally exploded. It just incinerated. An hour later we had a spare on each rig and started hunting. The next day we moved to a different trailhead and right as we arrived there, “pffffffffffffffft”, there went another tire on the rental. The sucker wasn’t going anywhere anymore. So Jake had an assignment to get tires fixed. We headed into the hills and he headed into town.
By this time we were in the boonies, and it was Sunday. Jake had to go all the way back to Miles City, and of course—20 miles from arrival—the truck starts to shake violently and he pulls off. The spare was no good, something had busted and the whole wheel was just wobbling around. It was well below freezing and getting dark and thankfully he had cell service and was able to get a two into town. At that point he just had a broken down truck full of busted tires—four in all. Ridiculous.
The Yukon needed some repairs and so Jake rented us another little SUV, got the tires all fixed, and drove back out to the trail to put tires on. He did a great job and took care of our dirty work while we shot the show. Four blown tires and one sketchy wheel in 3 days. Hex? I think so.
Well that stinks. Rentals are notoriously poorly maintained, a 5 dollar tire pressure gauge might be a good addition to your gear kit when loading down vehicles to be used on poor roads.
Renting a piece of equipment that your life depends on is a chancy business. Would you rent a rifle when you go hunting? I have always preferred to bring my own but I could see how that could be impossible when scheduling a TV show. Perhaps have a delivery service arrive on scene w/your own vehicles and equipment? Expensive but better than calling out search and rescue I would think.
That’s no hex — that’s just life in Montana. Gravel eats up tires. Insist on good ones.
What is a “WPA” and how many brother’s do you have, I count 3 so far……I only have one and he doesn’t hunt.
A WPA is a Wilderness Production Assistant, which we bring along on most hunts to carry heavy loads and take care of business while we hunt and shoot. In Montana I had the pleasure of hiring my little brother Jake. But don’t confuse him or I with Steve and his brothers, Matt and Danny, both of whom we hunted with this year.
I noticed on one show you had tape around the end of the muzzle of the gun? I have heard to keep out snow/dirt, prevention I suppose. However does that affect bullet travel at all?